The storage drives used in NAS are usually sold separately so it may be costly to set up. A NAS device is connected to the network for shared access. Network Attached Storage (NAS) – A NAS device utilizes an array of storage drives to create redundancy and a larger combined storage. However, they have limited storage capacity, a short shelf life and are considerably slower than hard/flash drives. They are cheap, portable, and can be used for offsite storage. There is also the issue of durability to consider.ĭisc media (CD-/DVD-Rom & Blu-Ray) – Burnable disc media is a dying storage medium, although there are still some people who use them. However, they are also prone to being lost or stolen, have a low storage capacity, and certain higher-end models are more expensive. They are good for transporting data between locations efficiently. USB flash drives – Thumb drives, or USB flash drives, are plug n’ play, ultra-portable, inexpensive, and durable. External drives may also risk being stolen or destroyed in a disaster (power-surge, fire, flood, etc).
However, like the hard drives in your computer, they are prone to failure over time, risk being misplaced (lost) or damaged (when dropped), and may eventually run out of storage space as their size is fixed.
The choice of media may depend on several factors, including the size of the backups, setup complexity, portability and security requirements, budget, on-site or offsite backup.Įxternal hard drives - One of the most common storage mediums, external drives, are easy to setup, relatively cheap, provide multiple storage size options, are portable and are usually large enough to store a lot of data. It is therefore important to store a copy of your data somewhere else - as a safety net or form of redundancy. There are also other situations which may result in data loss, such as power failures, system or file corruption, viruses, ransomware, or malware attacks. The constant reading and writing of data will eventually lead to drive failure, due to mechanical failure or drive degradation, usually without warning. Why is backing up your files so important?Ĭomputers use drives to store your data. This article answers all of these questions and more. Some may be intimidated by the apparent scale of what's required, not knowing where to start, what files to backup, where to store their backups or even which backup software to use. So data backup should be an essential part of your computer usage routine, but not everyone does it correctly. An unexpected event like hard drive failure, file corruption or even a virus, could wipe out all your important files when you least expect it. If you use a computer for storing any sort of information, it's vital to ensure that your data is being backed up.
0 kommentar(er)
